Reanalysing the 2007–19 glaciological mass-balance series of Mera Glacier, Nepal, Central Himalaya, using geodetic mass balance

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Wagnon, Patrick, Brun, Fanny, Khadka, Arbindra, Berthier, Etienne, Shrestha, Dibas, Vincent, Christian, Arnaud, Yves, Six, Delphine, Dehecq, Amaury, Ménégoz, Martin, Jomelli, Vincent
• Other Authors: Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Centre européen de recherche et d'enseignement des géosciences de l'environnement (CEREGE), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: [SDE]Environmental Sciences; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: https://hal-cnrs.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03036950; https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2020.88

International audience The 2007–19 glaciological mass-balance series of Mera Glacier in the Everest Region, East Nepal, is reanalysed using the geodetic mass balance assessed by differencing two DEMs obtained from Pléiades stereo-images acquired in November 2012 and in October 2018. The glaciological glacier-wide annual mass balance of Mera Glacier has to be systematically decreased by 0.11 m w.e. a−1 to match the geodetic mass balance. We attribute part of the positive bias of the glaciological mass balance to an over-estimation of the accumulation above 5520 m a.s.l., likely due to a measurement network unable to capture its spatial variability. Over the period 2007–19, Mera Glacier has lost mass at a rate of −0.41 ± 0.20 m w.e. a−1, in general agreement with regional averages for the central Himalaya. We observe a succession of negative mass-balance years since 2013.